Hello Seattle

 As excited as I was to be back on land and welcomed back to Utah with fireworks, I still had the itch for some adventure. I also felt like I needed some actual vacation time and to be somewhere exceptionally green. Choice of destination: Seattle, WA. I was able to go visit my friend Brittany (from school and the ship) and my roomie Darcy. My first day there I was able to go on a hike amongst all the beautiful pine trees that were incredibly tall and thick! Lots of the hikes we went on looked like something out of a fairy tale and was just the kind of environment I needed after staring at the inside of a ship for so long. We had some really pretty days there but I also got to experience the rainy, cloudy typical days of Seattle. Of course we had to make a little trip over the border over to Victoria, Canada. We took a little ferry over because we just missed being on a ship ya know! We went to visit our friend John who we met on the ship during quarantine.

Mustering is something we are pro at now!

In front of the beautiful parliament in Victoria. There was a little band of children who were playing on the steps when we got there, it was perfect. I loved all the French inspired architecture and everyone was very friendly. Definitely a quaint little city but still really fun, with lots of hidden treasures.

John is really into horses and we got to meet some of them!

With our friend John in front of where they filmed X-men

We met his partner Paul too, both were so kind and treated us like Princesses the entire time showing us around and being hosts to us.

I look like a pioneer here. On a hike where we didn't get much farther than the ranger station because of the freezing cold fog.

Beautiful, clear view of crescent lake, but do not be deceived we could not see a thing once we got to top of "storm king" Mt.

Chasing waterfalls.

Sending our friends back on the ship a little message in a bottle

Sticking my gum on the gum wall in downtown seattle

Space needle and Olympic park.

Something I saw on one of our runs one day.

There is this troll underneath the Aurora bridge in Seattle that even grabbed a car off the road in its hand!

At the flower garden with Darcy

Ever seen the film "10 things I hate about you"? Well this is the Stadium High School where they filmed part of it! 

We went on several hikes, which unfortunately ended up in a very foggy view. When we hiked with the Miamaids on their campout I was afraid the same thing would happen again for our group, especially because it was the first hike ever for a lot of the girls. The hike itself was probably one of the most gorgeous hikes I've ever been on walking along a stream and intermittent waterfalls, which then turned into a rocky cliff with wild flowers everywhere. A lot of the girls had a hard time carrying their gear so Britt and I loaded up like pack mules, but thankfully we had prepared our quads with our previous hikes and ship stairs! The night we spent up there was the coldest hiking experience ever as well. The next morning they wanted to hike up to the top before it became clouded over. As we hiked up the last half mile the view was starting to become foggy and I had a really bad attitude. Thinking to myself this is so dumb we are hiking up here we are not going to be able to see a thing when we get up there. When we got to the top though there was a different view I hadn't anticipated we would see in another direction. The was a vast mountain range, unfortunately my phone had died so I have no 3x5 so you will just have to imagine it. Once I got there I thought ok touche God, I get it, I had a certain expectation, my view was limited, and I complained the whole time but really He was leading to me somewhere even better than I had imagined. I believe that is continually what He is trying to do for me. Helping me love the climb and the experiences along the way and come to realize His full potential for me because it is so much more than I have envisioned for myself. 

I am trying to trust in God as I keep climbing and waiting for things to happen... learning patience more and more everyday!